Lesson module vs exelearning

Lesson module vs exelearning

by Marinda Faasen -
Number of replies: 14

I've been looking for an appropriate tool to develop lessons with for some time now. The lessons need to be very light, potentially work off line and work on any device. As Moodle will be the LMS used, I started using the Lesson module, but as many others noticed; it needs to be overhauled, since it has a number of shortcomings. 

I discovered exelearning (http://exelearning.net/?lang=en) a few days ago and I am quite impressed with it. It needs a lot of work, but it is open source and they are asking for developers to become involved in the project. 

I was wondering; in the light of SCORM,  Tin Can, Dans Marsden's off line project, html5, css3, inserting html5 animation, responsive design etc, if it wouldn't be better if more developers become involved in the exelearning project so that a tool can be developed that will allow a more 'plug and play' format. 

Any thoughts on this?



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In reply to Marinda Faasen

Re: Lesson module vs exelearning

by Joseph Rézeau -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

Marinda "I've been looking for an appropriate tool to develop lessons with for some time now."

It really depends what you call "lessons". The term "lesson" can be used in a very broad sense or in a very specific sense, as in the Moodle Lesson activity/module. In Moodle, the fact that the word "lesson" was chosen (historically) for a very specific activity often confuses people and leads to moodlers posting to this "Lesson forum" for asking questions totally or partially unrelated to the Moodle Lesson activity.

Improving the Moodle Lesson activity/module is one thing, and many moodlers who use it are hoping that this will happen. Proposing a new tool "à la SCORM" or "à la eXelearning" which can be integrated into Moodle is another thing, for which I suggest you re-post to the General Developer forum.

Joseph

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In reply to Marinda Faasen

Re: Lesson module vs exelearning

by Stuart Mealor -

Well, I don't think Moodle developers need to get involved with eXe.

It's more a case of teaching finding the right tools for them, and their courses.

I like eXe (it was developed here in New Zealand of course!)

But I tend to use Xerte (http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/xerte/toolkits.aspx) and Udutu (http://www.udutu.com/), which are both very good for developing more interactive content than the Lesson allows.  In fact you can save objects from these systems and place them in Lesson pages, for the best of both worlds !

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In reply to Marinda Faasen

Re: Lesson module vs exelearning

by Derek Chirnside -

Mirinda: you may like to check out this and keep an eye on progress:

http://www.kineo.com/nz/services/elearning/authoring-tools/adapt

I quote: "Adapt is an open source tool for multi-device, mobile learning: a responsive elearning design framework founded by Kineo. It enables you to design a single piece of elearning in HTML5 that will run on multiple devices, including desktops, smartphones and tablets."

-Derek

Disclaimer.  I have no affiliation with this project, and I know no-one who can report on it first hand.

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In reply to Derek Chirnside

Re: Lesson module vs exelearning

by Joseph Rézeau -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

Hi Derek and Stuart,

Just like I said in my reply to Marinda, the authoring tools you point to may be very valid learning tools in themselves, but I maintain that they are not directly related to the Moodle Lesson activity itself, which this forum is dedicated to.

Actually, they claim to be complete learning "solutions" in themselves, not Moodle add-ons.

Stuart, you write "In fact you can save objects from these systems and place them in Lesson pages, for the best of both worlds !" What do those "objects" look like? Could you please post here a very simple sample so we can have a look? I expect such "objects" could as well be placed inside Moodle "pages", or in a glossary, etc.

Looking forward to continuing this discussion with concrete examples,

Joseph

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In reply to Joseph Rézeau

Re: Lesson module vs exelearning

by Marinda Faasen -

The lesson tool and these authoring tools allow one to create the same type of interactive learning content, i.e. give information; embed media, follow it up with questions to involve the learner, grade the learner, track,  allow branching (in some cases), and so on. I need a tool that will create active learning content that can be tracked, but I also want the following:

1. The lessons must work in low bandwidth conditions (I'm in South Africa and some of the students are all over Africa). 

2. I want to embed html5 and javascript animation (I don't want to use flash).

3. Mathjax should do maths rendering.

4. I want responsive design.

5. I want full control over the stylesheet

5. And eventually when we have a working offline player; I want these lessons to work offline so that learners can go to a center; download all their learning content; go home, work, go back to the center and synchronise back to the server. 

After having looked for the right tool for months, I started using Moodle's lesson tool, because it worked  better than any of the other tools, but I can't embed the animations for example. There are some awesome tools out there but they create enormously bandwidth intensive lessons, and I keep staring at wheels turning, waiting for content to start running.

I'm now at the point where I decided to create the lessons and  learn how to turn them into SCORM modules myself. Still struggling with this though .... mixed 


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In reply to Marinda Faasen

Re: Lesson module vs exelearning

by Stuart Mealor -

As you say Marinda, the possibilities for offline Moodle are growing.

I'm running the Moodle Moot here in New Zealand in October, and Dan Marsden will be presenting on his offline Moodle project, so that should be interesting !

I am confused about this: "I'm now at the point where I decided to create the lessons and  learn how to turn them into SCORM modules" because I don't think you can convert a Moodle Lesson to a SCORM object. And if you could, would you then add it to Moodle as a SCORM object ... when it could already be there as a Lesson ?!

@Joseph - I would think there are some objects you can find and download/test if you wish.  Yes, I expect they could be embedded in any Moodle page, but the Lessons would give opportunity for branching and questions etc.
I was answering Marinda on her subject, which did seem to be asking about using external content (eXe) within a Lesson, or instead of a Lesson, so the response seemed appropriate.

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In reply to Stuart Mealor

Re: Lesson module vs exelearning

by Marinda Faasen -

Thanks for the reply. No, I created my own html5 pages with some questions which I am trying to convert into scorm. I am still looking for a final solution.  I haven't abandoned using Moodle's lesson tool so I might still use it. 

This is a huge project which will takes months to complete. I would like to find the perfect tool (or as close to perfect as I can), before embarking on it.

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In reply to Marinda Faasen

Re: Lesson module vs exelearning

by Joseph Rézeau -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

Marinda "I created my own html5 pages with some questions which I am trying to convert into scorm."

For any problems related to SCORM rather than the Moodle Lesson activity I suggest you post to the relevant SCORM forum. I see you have already posted there.

Joseph

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In reply to Joseph Rézeau

Re: Lesson module vs exelearning

by Marinda Faasen -

Yes well, I initially posted here in the vain hope that someone developer involved with the Lesson module will see it and decide to invest some time improving the Lesson module (including all the specs I gave smile ) .

I still think that the Lesson module is worth the effort. I've seen several Content Management Systems, and so far Moodle is the only one with a similar tool. 

But thanks for everybody's input. I enjoyed the conversation.

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In reply to Marinda Faasen

Re: Lesson module vs exelearning

by Derek Chirnside -

Heard about this five minutes ago: http://h5p.org/

I quote: 

Supercharge your website with H5P

H5P makes it easy to create and share HTML5 content and applications. H5P empowers creatives to create rich and interactive web experiences more efficiently - all you need is a web browser and a web site with an H5P plugin.

-Derek

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In reply to Derek Chirnside

Re: Lesson module vs exelearning

by KirK Chapman -

What an instructional gem! approve  (not SCORM compliant but still...)AWESOME!

Thanks Derek!


Peace

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In reply to Derek Chirnside

Re: Lesson module vs exelearning

by Derek Chirnside -

This to:

http://www.udutu.com/

Thousands of organizations are already using Udutu™ to author and distribute online courses. Our award winning online course authoring tool is free to use and you don't need to be a technology expert

Usual disclaimer: never used it and no affiliation.

Been discussed several times here, for example from 2010: https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=149129

-Derek



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In reply to Marinda Faasen

Re: Lesson module vs exelearning

by José Miguel Andonegi -

Hi Marinda:

I am an active member of eXeLearning community, and first of all, thank you for your words.

I've been working some years developing contents and I think you should consider long term content maintenance. If you are doing a big effort creating contents, I think they shouldn't be tied to Moodle's Lesson module. The could be integrated as pieces of the lesson, but you should be able to use them in other platforms.

I think you should create platform independent content with eXeLearning or any of the other content creation tools mentioned in this thread, and you should be able to manage them (publish in Moodle or wherever, modify, translate, ...) the easiest way.

If you are still interested in eXeLearning, we can talk about your requirements in eXeLearning's forum and I encourage you to do the same with the other content creation tools mentioned here.

Cheers!

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